The Two for Tuesday Coffee Break

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, External Infographic, Library, The Cultural Devision, Video | 0

Looking for something to track this month that doesn’t involve you eating better or exercising more?

Better understand your caffeinated ways with this DIY print from Column Five Media, on which you can paint the results using your coffee.  If your wallet is light (and your eyes are good), you can try working with this preview image and check out their blog for clues on what you can’t read.

Meanwhile, if you’re not the tracking type, Coop is here to let you in on a little secret that can make a difference every day of the year.

[Chart via Laughing Squid]

They Say the First is the Most Difficult to Make

by | posted in: External Images, The Cultural Devision | 0

John Baldessari‘s “The First $100,000 I Ever Made”, the first of three installations in the High Line Billboard art series.

Live and in person on 10th Avenue at West 18th St in Manhattan thru December 30th.

That’s Wilson on the bill, by the way.  …  … Woodrow Wilson.

[Photo by Bill Orcutt via Laughing Squid]

A Terabyte of Illegal Downloads

by | posted in: External Images, The Cultural Devision | 0

What is this tiny monolith and why is it worth 5 million dollars?

It’s a terabyte drive filled with illegal downloads.  There’s a bunch of software and games on it, but surprisingly(?) the bulk of the monetary value comes from books. By skipping the circus that likely would have followed if it were filled with Hollywood blockbusters, the piece clears the way for us to consider the question of Intellectual Property in an age where $5 million of it can fit on a $99 drive.

The twist here is that “5 Million Dollars 1 Terabyte” is on display at the online portal, Art404.   And since the artist, Manuel Palou, includes a full list of the files on the drive along with download links for them all, what you don’t see in the exhibit is the conceptually lurid cord hanging out the back.

Should money be the measure of who is granted access to tools, knowledge and culture that could be so easily shared?  No one is going to read 76 gigs of science text books, but what if they were all just online coming up in our search results instead of some blog?  Is there a business model that could avoid excluding so many from so much?

With SOPA in Congress, this is timely work inviting sorely needed questions.

[Wired UK via Hacker News]

Dragged to the Back of the Pack

by | posted in: Commentary, External Infographic, The Cultural Devision | 0

Every once in a while you have to reassess the things you are proud of.  Is the quality that first inspired you still important?  Is it still there?

Does the idea of America in your mind include the Czech Republic possessing a vastly superior ability to keep its citizens above the poverty line?

Is being below-average part of the plan?

(click for the full-sized version)

The way our government operates, you’d assume it represents a nation of people only interested in corporate profits.  As if our drive as a nation were to put money over every other concern, from the quality of products and services to the quality of life itself.

If the economy can not remain stable, if a person can not create a livelihood within the economy, the economy can not be called dependable.  It becomes a risk that must be hedged.  The government represents the people’s hedge.

If big business can not deliver, they should lose the competition, not be allowed to rewrite the rules so they still win.  If they don’t want to compete, they are unfit to lead and endanger us with their attempts to manipulate our government.

They can go to the back of the pack if they want, but should not be allowed to take our country with them.  We’re better than that.

This isn’t Corporate America.  This is the United States of America.  We’re the boss here.

[Infographic from GOOD Magazine]

Happy Nigel Tufnel Day

by | posted in: Library, The Cultural Devision | 0

The Nigel Tufnel Day Appreciation Society and Quilting Bee in Favor of Declaring & Observing November 11, 2011 as Nigel Tufnel Day (in Recognition of Its Maximum Elevenness) put it best when it said…

“Only once in every century are we given the perfect opportunity to honor one of the greatest artists and philosophers of our time. This day, this apex of epic riffs, this nirvana of noise, this valhalla of virtuosity, this bodhi of broken eardrums, this moksha of mach, that you know as November 11, 2011, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to collectively experience the enlightenment of Eleven.”

We encourage you all to bask in whatever there is to bask in on the 100% scheduled occurrence of some numbers lining up.  You’ve only got two shots at 11/11/11 11:11:11.  Use them well.

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